{"id":6403,"date":"2015-10-18T07:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T06:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=6403"},"modified":"2015-10-18T07:00:28","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T06:00:28","slug":"concrete-and-cybermen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/history\/concrete-and-cybermen\/","title":{"rendered":"Concrete and Cybermen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Southbank buildings are iconic – but I never thought beautiful was the right word.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Architecture can be brutal.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, I had a remarkable opportunity to deep into the bowels of two fabulous buildings \u2013 the Haywood Galley and the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been to both many times before, for concerts and exhibitions. Both are now closed for refurbishment \u2013 and we had an opportunity to join a tour, with two National Trust experts to tell us all about these iconic buildings.<\/p>\n

I was in for quite a surprise.<\/p>\n

Architecture is not really my thing \u2013 so I had never heard of Brutalism (in building terms) – but I have seen buildings like these in many places on the world. Huge bare concrete boxes with no ornamentation or frivolity. A triumph of function over form.<\/p>\n

Most of them have been government buildings built during the 1050s and 1960s \u2013 so I always assumed they were built as concrete boxes because that was cheap and easy and fast.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The concrete was poured on site into timber frames – leaving the wonderful patterns of the wood grain embedded in the concrete.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not so, the man from the National Trust informed me. They were built this way because their designers thought they were beautiful. It was all about honesty. What you see is what you get \u2013 there is no attempt to hide anything behind a gentle fa\u00e7ade. You can see the brutal strength of their construction.<\/p>\n

They were built this way for another reason too \u2013 to protect them. Other constructions on the south bank, built for the 1951 Festival of Britain were demolished after the event. The designers of these replacement buildings did not want to see them so easily swept away.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The soundproofing in the around the ventilation shafts looks like straw covered with concrete – because that is exactly what it is.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And interestingly,\u00a0the architects who built the iconic South Bank buildings were not highly paid or feted stars of their sphere. They were architects employed by the London County Council.<\/p>\n

It was fascinating to descend from the public section of the galleries to underneath,\u00a0to see the tunnels connecting the buildings. Even here, there is a strange beauty in the way the pipes and cable ducts are so precise and symmetrical. No wonder they used it as a shooting location for Dr Who and the Cybermen.<\/p>\n

\"Underground<\/a>
Underground – looking for Cybermen or rock stars.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s not all concrete of course.\u00a0After descending some pretty scary stairs into the main performance hall, I found the familiar leather seats where I have sat to watch so many great performances.<\/p>\n

\"Not<\/a>
Not good stairs for those with a vertigo problem. Were health and safety rules different in the 50s?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I didn\u2019t know it then, but\u00a0not only were the musicians tuning their instruments to suit the room,\u00a0the room was being tuned to suit the performances – with polished wooden panels being slid out of recesses in the walls to enrich the sound.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
I attended many concerts here – and never realised there was a mirror ball hidden in the ceiling. They weren’t that kind of concert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was wonderful to wander backstage and see the rooms where the artists relaxed after a performance, before being smuggled out through the tunnels to avoid the screaming crowds of fans outside. I was never one of those, you understand. Not screaming, at least.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The art deco tiles of the artists’ backstage bar. What tales could they tell?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two buildings will be closed now for two years for the refurbishment, just as the Festival Hall was a few years ago. The refurbishment greatly enhanced that great concert hall,\u00a0and I look forward to coming back to the Haywood and the Queens Elizabeth Hall and seeing how they are going move forward in the 21st century.<\/p>\n

\"By<\/a>
By the end of the tour – and I had come to understand that these building have their own unique beauty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Architecture can be brutal. A couple of weeks ago, I had a remarkable opportunity to deep into the bowels of two fabulous buildings \u2013 the Haywood Galley and the Queen Elizabeth Hall…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-my-travels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6403\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}